**Charity Registered number 1058836**
## **THE RAINBOW DICKINSON TRUST**
**ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS**
**YEAR ENDED 5 APRIL 2025**
## **RAINBOW DICKINSON TRUST TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT & ACCOUNTS YEAR ENDED 5 APRIL 2025**
## **CONTENTS**
||**Pages**|
|---|---|
|Legal & Administrative details|1|
|Trustees’ Annual Report|2-5|
|Independent Examiner’s Report|6|
|Statement of Financial Activities|7|
|Balance Sheet|8|
|Notes to the Financial Statements|9-15|
## **RAINBOW DICKINSON TRUST LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS**
Charity Name The Rainbow Dickinson Trust
Status Registered Charity Charity Registration Number 1058836 Registered Office & Principal Address C/O Foxborough House Aldeburgh Suffolk IP15 5QD
**Trustees**
Francis C.P. Dickinson MBE (Chair) Bridget J. Dickinson Jasper E. P. Dickinson
**Patron**
The Lord Wrigglesworth Kt
**Advisory Board** Dr Gordon Cox John Stephens OBE Professor Graham Welch
**Secretary** Position vacant
**Independent Examiner** Helen Rumsey Ensors Blyth House, Rendham Road Saxmundham Suffolk IP17 1WA
**Bankers** Barclays Bank PLC
**Solicitors** Bates Wells, 10 Queen Street Place London EC4R 1BE
**Financial Management** CCLA Investment Management Ltd & CCLA Fund Managers Ltd Senator House, 85 Queen Victoria Street London EC4V 4ET
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## **RAINBOW DICKINSON TRUST TRUSTEES REPORT**
## **STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT**
The Rainbow Dickinson Trust was constituted under the will of the late Bernarr Rainbow, dated 21 August 1996 and proven by grant of Probate on 17 March 1998. The Trust Deed is dated 7 August 1996.
## Management Arrangements
The trustees meet to monitor the activities of the charity, including investment performance. There is access to the Advisory Board as needed. The trustees can appoint additional trustees as they see fit. Apart from expenses, no trustees or advisory board members have been paid.
## Risk Management
The trustees continually review risks to which the charity is exposed and are satisfied that systems are in place to mitigate their exposure to major risk. There have been no serious incidents during the financial year.
## **OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES**
The Rainbow Dickinson Trust was established by Dr Bernarr Rainbow and Professor Peter Dickinson to apply the income of the trust fund and all or part of the capital for the benefit of the advancement and promotion of education in music. Further powers include: the making of grants, bursaries and scholarships to and for teachers of music or other persons practicing the art or science of music; to increase the knowledge of the public in music or to assist research into music education; to arrange and provide for the holding of concerts, recitals, lectures; to take necessary steps to publish or maintain in print the scholarly writings of leading authorities in the field of music education.
The Trust continues to support musical organisations in England and Wales in keeping with its now well-established profile, the Trust Deed and the intentions of its founders.
## **Public benefit**
The trustees have paid due regard to guidance issued by the Charity Commission in deciding what activities the charity should undertake.
## **Grant making policy**
The charity receives applications for funding charities and other organisations. The trustees review the applications against the objectives of the charity before deciding whether or not to authorise the application and make the grant.
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## **ACHIEVEMENTS**
The Trustees continued to identify activities that were in line with the Trust's aims and have made a relatively large number of grants in the current year.
Many of the Trust's grants continue to involve work with young people. Grants include bursaries for training through established organisations, orchestras visiting schools and choirs/ensembles/bands. A list of the awardees is in the accounts.
## **SUMMARY:**
In 2024-25 the Trust continued to make many grants and donations based on the Trust’s aims, perpetuating its founders’ memories and supporting music education on a wide scale. A total of £28,895 (2024: £20,344) was awarded to various musical projects or spent on the Trust’s charitable purposes.
## **Financial Review**
The accounting year ended on 5 April 2025. For the year, Incoming Resources were £31,387 (2024: £31,662). Resources expended were £34,493 (2024: £24,963). This generated a net decrease in general funds of £3,106 (2024: £6,699 increase). Closing funds in bank accounts at the end of 5 April 2025 amounted to £21,379 (2024: £23,838). The investment assets held in the COIF Charities Investment Fund totalled 49,284.07 units valued at £927,748 as at 5 April 2025 (2024: 49,284.07 units valued at £986,174).
## **Reserves Policy**
The level of reserves is kept under scrutiny by the trustees who receive regular reports from their investment advisors on the value of the Trust Fund. The Trustees maintain a relatively high level of reserves in order to generate long term recurring investment income, and facilitate the continuing ability to award grants.
## **Investment Policy**
Trustees are governed by the Trust Deed which permits funds to be applied or invested in the purchase of or at interest upon the security of such shares stock funds security land building chattels or other investments or property of any nature. Funds invested are kept under review by the Trustees, who aim to maintain investment income at consistent levels to allow a similar level of grant funding year on year.
## **HISTORY ASSOCIATED WITH THE TRUST**
In their last report, the trustees were greatly saddened to relate that Professor Peter Dickinson died on 16 June, 2023, having been Chairman of the Trust since its creation.
Professor Peter Dickinson MA (Cantab), Hon DMus (Keele), Hon DMus (London), FRCO, ARCM, LRAM, Hon FTCM, Professor Emeritus of both Keele and London Universities, was a distinguished British composer, writer, pianist and academic. After his death in June, 2023, a large number of tributes to him and his work included obituaries in the national press including The Times, The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph, as well as from musical, arts and academic organisations. These tributes highlighted the work of The Rainbow Dickinson Trust. The trustees intend that work will continue to maintain awareness of his achievements
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as well as those of Dr.Bernarr Rainbow with whom he co-founded The Rainbow Dickinson Trust.
Peter Dickinson combined numerous parallel careers in a lifetime of extraordinary musical achievement. As a composer, his wide repertoire ranged from his organ, piano and violin concertos to smaller and lighter works. As Professor Emeritus of the Universities of both Keele and London, he taught and inspired many of today’s leading musicians and established specialist expertise in American music among other fields. His credentials as a performer were evident as an organ scholar at Cambridge University and then most prominently as a pianist with decades of concert and recording credits. As an author Dickinson’s musical subjects ranged from Copland, Berkeley, Cage, Barber, Berners, Mayerl and writings on his own music, to regular reviewing for music magazines.
Dickinson was Head of Music at London University’s Institute of United States Studies and was patron or trustee of a large number of performing and academic institutions including a board member of Trinity College of Music (now Trinity Laban). In the last two decades of his life a wholly new accomplishment was represented by Dickinson’s chairmanship of The Rainbow Dickinson Trust, a music education charity which gave significant grants to music education and musical projects under his leadership.
## Dr Bernarr Rainbow
Dr Bernarr Rainbow studied at Trinity College of Music and became the leading British authority on the history of music education. He was born in London in 1914 and served in the British Army in North Africa and Italy during the Second World War. Completing his army service in 1944, he started his career as Organist of the Parish Church, High Wycombe and then Music Master at the Royal Grammar School.
After eight years in which the school gained a national reputation for musical excellence, Rainbow became a Director of Music at the College of St Mark and St John, the Church of England College of Education then in Chelsea. Here Rainbow’s scholarly career developed through his books, articles and reviews culminating in his magnum opus, Music in Educational Thought and Practice. He died in 1998.
The Trust has played a key role in a large number of musical projects and causes for more than twenty five years. Publications, mostly edited by Peter Dickinson, have included: Music in Educational Thought and Practice (1989; 2nd edition with further chapters by Gordon Cox and a Foreword from Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, 2006/paperback 2007); Four Centuries of Music Teaching Manuals 1518-1932 (2009); Bernarr Rainbow on Music: Memoirs and Selected Writings (2010); Music in Independent Schools edited by Andrew Morris (2014). The Trust supported a series of five lectures, now complete and published as Music Education in Crisis: the Bernarr Rainbow Lectures and other Assessments (2013). The final seven facsimile publications in Rainbow’s series of Classic Texts in Music Education have now appeared and the series is complete.
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The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Acts. The trustees are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps to prevent and detect fraud and other irregularities.
## 09/12/2025
This report has been approved by the trustees on _______________ and signed on their behalf by:
Francis Dickinson (Dec 9, 2025 10:53:03 GMT) Francis Dickinson Chairman
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## **RAINBOW DICKINSON TRUST INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S REPORT**
## **TO THE TRUSTEES OF THE RAINBOW DICKINSON TRUST**
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of The Rainbow Dickinson Trust (the Trust) for the year ended 5 April 2025.
## **Responsibilities and basis of report**
As the charity trustees of the Trust you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the Act’).
I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.
## **Independent examiner’s statement**
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:
1. accounting records were not kept in respect of the Trust as required by section 130 of the Act; or
2. the accounts do not accord with those records; or
3. the accounts do not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
## Helen Rumsey
Helen Rumsey (Dec 9, 2025 12:14:00 GMT) Helen Rumsey Ensors Blyth House Rendham Road Saxmundham Suffolk IP17 1WA
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## **RAINBOW DICKINSON TRUST STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES (including Income and Expenditure Account) YEAR ENDED 5 APRIL 2025**
|**Notes**
**Income and endowment from**
Income from COIF investments
**3**
Other Income
**4**
Total
**Expenditure**
Expenditure on grants/donations
**5**
Other charitable expenditure
Expenditure on B. Rainbow books
Other expenditure
**6**
**Total**
**Net income/(expenditure)**
**Gain/(loss) on investments**
-
Realised
-
Unrealised
**Net movement in funds**
**8**
Reconciliation in funds
Total funds brought forward
**Total funds carried forward**|**2025**
**2024**
**As restated**
**£**
**£**
27,762
27,490
3,625
4,172|
|---|---|
||31,387
31,662
28,500
20,344
395
-
922
154
4,676
4,465|
||34,493
24,963|
||(3,106)
6,699
-
-
(58,426)
62,758|
||(61,532)
69,457
1,008,843
939,386|
||**947,310**
**1,008,843**|
All funds are unrestricted.
7
## **RAINBOW DICKINSON TRUST BALANCE SHEET AS AT 5 APRIL 2025**
|**Notes**
**Fixed assets**
Investments
9
**Current assets**
Cash at bank and in hand
**Liabilities**
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
10
**Net current assets/(liabilities)**
**Total assets less current liabilities**
**Total net assets or (liabilities)**
**The funds of the charity**
Unrestricted funds
8|**2025**
**2024**
**As restated**
**£**
**£**
927,748
986,174|
|---|---|
||21,378
23,838
1,816
1,169|
||19,562
22,669|
||947,310
1,008,843|
||947,310
1,008,843|
||947,310
1,008,843|
||947,310
1,008,843|
These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Charities Act 2011 and the Charities SORP (FRS102).
09/12/2025 These financial statements were approved by the trustees on _______________ and are signed on their behalf by:
Francis Dickinson (Dec 9, 2025 10:53:03 GMT) Francis Dickinson Chairman
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**RAINBOW DICKINSON TRUST NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS YEAR ENDED 5 APRIL 2025**
## **1 ACCOUNTING POLICIES**
## _**Basis of Accounting**_
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Charities Act 2011, Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice (FRS102).
The charity has taken advantage of the provisions in the SORP for charities not to prepare a statement of cash flows.
The financial statements have departed from the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 only to the extent required to provide a true and fair view. This departure has involved following the Statement of Recommended Practice for charities applying FRS 102 rather than the version of the Statement of Recommended Practice which is referred to in the Regulations but which has since been withdrawn.
The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the charity. Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £.
The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention, modified to include the fixed asset investments at their fair value. The principal accounting policies adopted are set out below.
## _**Going Concern**_
At the time of approving the financial statements, the trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Thus the trustees continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing financial statements.
## _**Income Recognition**_
Income from investments is recognized when there is entitlement, certainty of receipt and the amount can be measured with sufficient reliability. Donated income, including royalties, are recognized when received.
## _**Expenditure**_
Expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and is recognised when a liability is incurred.
Other costs include those incurred on the governance of the charity and its assets and are primarily associated with constitutional and statutory requirements.
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## **RAINBOW DICKINSON TRUST NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (continued) YEAR ENDED 5 APRIL 2025**
## _**Taxation**_
The Rainbow Dickinson Trust is a charity within the meaning of the Charities Act 1993 and 2006 and as such is a charity within the meaning of Part 11, Corporation Tax Act 2010. Accordingly, The Rainbow Dickinson Trust is potentially exempt from taxation in respect of income or gains received within categories covered by Part 11, Corporation Tax Act 2010 or Section 256 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992 to the extent that such income or gains are applied exclusively to its charitable purposes.
## _**Fixed asset investments**_
Fixed asset investments are initially measured at transaction price excluding transaction costs, and are subsequently measured at fair value at each reporting date. Changes in fair value are recognised in net income/(expenditure) for the year. Transaction costs are expensed as incurred.
## _**Unrestricted Funds**_
The funds in the trust are Unrestricted funds and as such are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in the furtherance of the general objects of the charity. No funds have been designated for other purposes.
## _**Cash and cash equivalents**_
Cash and cash equivalents include cash in hand, deposits held at call with banks, and other short-term liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less.
## _**Financial instruments**_
The charity has elected to apply the provisions of Section 11 'Basic Financial Instruments' and Section 12 'Other Financial Instruments Issues' of FRS 102 to all of its financial instruments. Financial instruments are recognised in the charity's balance sheet when the charity becomes party to the contractual provisions of the instrument. Financial assets and liabilities are offset, with the net amounts presented in the financial statements, when there is a legally enforceable right to set off the recognised amounts and there is an intention to settle on a net basis or to realise the asset and settle the liability simultaneously.
## Basic financial assets
Basic financial assets, which include debtors and cash and bank balances, are initially measured at transaction price including transaction costs and are subsequently carried at amortised cost using the effective interest method unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the transaction is measured at the present value of the future receipts discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial assets classified as receivable within one year are not amortised.
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## **RAINBOW DICKINSON TRUST NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (continued) YEAR ENDED 5 APRIL 2025**
## Other financial assets
Other financial assets, including investments in equity instruments which are not subsidiaries, associates or joint ventures, are initially measured at fair value, which is normally the transaction price. Such assets are subsequently carried at fair value and the changes in fair value are recognised in net income/(expenditure),
except that investments in equity instruments that are not publicly traded and whose fair values cannot be measured reliably are measured at cost less impairment.
## Derecognition of financial assets
Financial assets are derecognised only when the contractual rights to the cash flows from the asset expire or are settled, or when the charity transfers the financial asset and substantially all the risks and rewards of ownership to another entity, or if some significant risks and rewards of ownership are retained but control of the asset has transferred to another party that is able to sell the asset in its entirety to an unrelated third party.
## Basic financial liabilities
Basic financial liabilities, including creditors are initially recognised at transaction price unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the debt instrument is measured at the present value of the future payments discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial liabilities classified as payable within one year are not amortised. Debt instruments are subsequently carried at amortised cost, using the effective interest rate method.
## Derecognition of financial liabilities
Financial liabilities are derecognised when the charity's contractual obligations expire or are discharged or cancelled.
## **2 CRITICAL ACCOUNTING ESTIMATES AND JUDGEMENTS**
In the application of the charity's accounting policies, the trustees are required to make judgements, estimates and assumptions about the carrying amount of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The estimates and associated assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors that are considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from these estimates.
The estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised where the revision affects only that period, or in the period of the revision and future periods where the revision affects both current and future periods.
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## **RAINBOW DICKINSON TRUST NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (continued) YEAR ENDED 5 APRIL 2025**
## **3 INCOME FROM INVESTMENTS**
|Income from Investment- COIF Funds
Interest received|**2025**
**2024**
**£**
**£**
27,387
26,850
375
640|
|---|---|
||27,762
27,490|
## 4 **OTHER INCOME**
|4**OTHER INCOME**||
|---|---|
|Donations rec’d –Eugene Goossens royalties
Royalties on Bernarr Rainbow books|**2025**
**2024**
**£**
**£**
3,625
4,114
-
58|
||3,625
4,172|
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## **RAINBOW DICKINSON TRUST NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (continued) YEAR ENDED 5 APRIL 2025**
## 5 **EXPENDITURE ON CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES**
|Chamber Studio
Britten Pears Arts
The National Youth Choir
Lake District Music Festival
Halle Concerts Society
Royal Museums Greenwich concerts
Pimlico Musical Foundation
London Youth Choir
Prometheus Orchestra
University of East Anglia
Old Royal Naval College Greenwich
Recorder music CD of British Music support
York Early Music Centre
Aldeburgh Music Club
Jubilee Opera Trust
The Band of The Welsh Guards
Cathedral Music Trust
Monteverdi Choir
The Choral Foundation, Chapel Royal, Hampton Court
Southwold Music Trust
Buxton Arts Festival
St Endellion Music Festival
Britten as a Boy Statue Appeal
The Elgar Festival
Friends of the Musicians Chapel
The English Music Festival
The Queen’s Choral Foundation, Chapel Royal Windsor
NMC Recordings
The Lennox Berkeley Society
The Bristol Ensemble
Total Grant Expenditure|**2025**
**2024**
**£**
**£**
2,000
2,500
1,500
1,500
1,500
1,500
1,500
1,500
1,500
500
500
1,500
1,500
1,500
1,000
500
1,500
2,000
2,000
2,000
1,000
2,000
1,500
1,500
1,000
1,000
1,500
500
1,500
2,000
500
3,000
1,500|
|---|---|
||28,500
19,506|
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## **RAINBOW DICKINSON TRUST NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (continued) YEAR ENDED 5 APRIL 2025**
## 6 **OTHER EXPENDITURE**
|Accountancy fees
Independent Examination fees
Trustee Expenses
Sundry Expenses|**2025**
**2024**
**£**
**£**
-
540
1,296
1,218
3,174
2,523
206
184|
|---|---|
||4,676
4,465|
## **7 TRUSTEES**
None of the trustees (or any persons connected with them) received any remuneration or benefits from the charity during either year.
1 (2024: 2) of the trustees had expenses of £3,174 (2024: £2,523) reimbursed in the year.
## 8 **INVESTMENT ASSETS**
The trust held 49,284.07 units in COIF Charities Investment fund at the start of the year. During the year no units were sold. The historic cost of units held on 5 April 2025 was £456,232 (2024: £456,232). They were valued at £927,748 on 5 April 2025 (2024: £986,174).
## **9 CREDITORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR**
|Other Creditors
Accountancy|**2025**
**2024**
**£**
**£**
802
221
1,014
948|
|---|---|
||1,816
1,169|
## **10 GRANT COMMITMENTS**
There were no outstanding grant commitments at 5 April 2025 (2024: £nil).
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**RAINBOW DICKINSON TRUST NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (continued) YEAR ENDED 5 APRIL 2025**
## **11 PRIOR PERIOD ADJUSTMENT**
The 2024 figures have been adjusted to reflect the Investments held by the Trust at valuation, rather than cost, to bring the financial statements in line with requirements of the Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice (FRS102).
## **Reconciliation of changes in reserves**
|Adjustments to prior year
-
Increase in Investments value
Reserves as previously reported
Reserves as adjusted|**6 April 2023 5 April 2024**
**£**
**£**
467,184
529,942
472,202
478,901|
|---|---|
||939,386
1,008,843|
## **Reconciliation of changes in net movement in funds for the previous financial period**
|Adjustments to prior year
Investment Gains/Losses (unrealized)
Net movement in funds previously reported
Net movement as adjusted|2024
£
62,758
6,699|
|---|---|
||69,457|
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